Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Cherry Almond Clafouti (Gluten-Free)

The clafouti (cla-foo-tee) or clafoutis is an old dessert from the Limoges region of France which can be traced back to the 19th century. I cannot tell you how long it has been since I have had intention to make a clafouti. Finally, I made it and it was delicious. Thanks to the Summer Fest started on the Food Network Blog, I was challenged to make something to showcase fresh cherries. Clafouti was the first thing to enter my mind. The clafouti is somewhere between a cake and a custard. Think of a bread pudding with fresh cherries in place of the bread. I thought it would be perfect with almond flour as a natural pairing with cherries. The French believe that leaving the pits in add a more intense cherry flavor. I prefer to pit mine beforehand, but a couple usually gets past me. Since this is such a rustic recipe, and not wanting to use the oven with the scorching heat, I wanted to bake this on the grill using a cast iron skillet. Of course, it can be baked in the oven, too. I just love how simple this is to make.

Ingredients:

about 600 grams fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted

4 large (200 grams) eggs, room temperature

200 grams (7 ounces) milk, room temperature

125 grams (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) sugar

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

80 grams (1/2 cup packed) blanched almond flour

30 grams (1/4 cup) arrowroot starch or cornstarch

butter or non-stick spray for greasing pan

powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
Preheat grill to 350-375F or oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until mixed. While whisking, add in the milk, followed by the sugar, vanilla, salt, almond flour, and starch. Mix until uniform.

Grease a 10” cast iron skillet (or cake/casserole pan). Put the cherries in the bottom. Top with the batter. Place on grill and cover, allow to cook for about 20-30 minutes until the top is golden brown. Alternatively, cook in oven uncovered for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Serve while still warm, slicing in pieces like a pie. Garnish with a light dusting of powdered sugar.

This is part of Food Network's Summer Fest. Check out The FN Dish. The seasonal produce we're focusing on here are cherries! Here are other delicious features on cherries:

Nice to see this. I made a cherry clafouti last night using Bob's Gluten-Free all-purpose flour, which has chickpea flour, sorghum flour and a few other things. Before I cooked it I was alarmed at the beany taste of the mix, but it seemed to turn out fine. Still, I want to try it with the almond flour next. I'm not wild about using the starch (the arrowroot or cornstarch, I would probably use tapioca starch since I have that and it might be slightly less processed than cornstarch). I wonder how it would turn out with just the almond flour? Still have lots of cherries to use up, will experiment....

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As a gluten-free organic chemist culinarian, my mission is to improve lives through smart development of kick-ass gluten-free food. Reinventing nostalgia with gluten free food. Diagnosed with Celiac in 2003, I want to teach you how to make gluten-free food so good, you don't have to compromise.

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“Necessity is the engine that has driven all great cuisines throughout history.”-Anthony Bourdain

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